This invention relates to pneumatic tractor tires for use on farm tractors and other like vehicles.
More particularly this invention relates to farm tires that exhibit good traction characteristics while also having good cleaning, ie. soil, mud etc. removal, while also exhibiting good vibration characteristics.
Tractor tires and other farm vehicles are being used more and more on the road as farmers drive their equipment from one field to another. Some tires may exhibit good vibration characteristics while operated off the road while exhibiting poor vibration characteristics while operated on the road, and vice versa. Typically, with the advent of large corporate or family farms coupled with the increasing size of the tractors, tractors are used more and more on the road to transport them to and from one field or another. Therefore, it has become more important to provide a tire which has good vibration characteristics both on the road and off the road. However, it is important at the same time to maintain good traction or draw bar characteristics while also providing for the removal of the soil, mud, etc.
It has been generally recognized that improvements in ride vibration characteristics for a tractor on the road would produce a less desirable traction characteristic. A tractor tire in accordance with one embodiment of this invention has resulted in a tire having improved vibration characteristics over U.S. Pat. No. 4,534,392, known in the industry as having good vibration characteristics, while also having good traction characteristics and improved tread cleaning characteristics.
It is further noted that tires according to at least one embodiment herein exhibit good tractive efficiency. Tractive efficiency being how efficient the traction is when compared to fuel consumption. For example, if under identical conditions, soil, tractor, weight, etc., two different sets of tires have the same draw bar traction, but the tractor used less fuel during the same test with the first set than with the second set, then the first set has a higher traction efficiency than the other.